1. Field of Invention
The techniques described herein are directed generally to the field of distributed computer systems, and more particularly to techniques for processing data that is stored in a distributed computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A distributed computer system is a collection of two or more computers that are coupled together and are able to coordinate their activities to share data and processing tasks. Each computer in the distributed system is referred to as a node and has its own processing and storage resources.
In some distributed computer systems, the users of the distributed computer system perceive a single integrated computing facility, even though this computing facility may actually comprise multiple separate computers in disparate geographic locations.